Ripple to Wave
by savingxgrace
Summary: Tag to Ripple Effect. Sam makes a phone call after her little chat with AU Janet. Also, Janet has a little issue of her own after returning home. S/J Fluff.


Summary – Sam makes a phone call after her little chat with the other reality Janet. Also, Janet has a little issue of her own after returning home. Tag to Ripple Effect. S/J Fluff.

Spoilers – No important ones that I know of other than Ripple Effect.

Totally AU. All the normal disclaimers etc. etc.

--

**Ripple to Wave**

The phone rang once. Twice. A third time before it was picked up.

"General O'Neill speaking."

"Sir, you will not believe the day I just had."

"Hello to you too, Carter. So we're skipping the pleasantries today, how nice."

--

"Offworld activation. It's Sg-1's IDC, sir."

"Open the iris." Jack called behind him, already half way down the stairs to meet the team.

"It's good to be home." Dr Frasier said to no one in particular upon seeing General O'Neill enter the gate room.

"Yes, hello, how are you, all that stuff." Janet was a little confused at his distressed tone but Jack didn't seem to notice and ploughed on, only briefly acknowledging the others. "You're assistance is needed immediately in the medical bay."

"What is it; the plague hasn't reached the SGC, has it?" Janet asked, starting to panic but not showing it on her features. "We have the cure."

That statement stopped Jack in his tracks on his way out the doors again. "I'm sorry."

"We have the cure. It's a long story. Don't ask." Mitchell said as he walked past with Martouf, obviously going to the locker rooms. Daniel also made to follow but was stopped by Jack.

"Ok, I won't." He was clearly not impressed with the answer, however.

"General." Janet said, walking over to him. "The problem. What is it?"

"Oh right." Jack resumed his walking out the gate room and towards the lift with Janet. "Daniel." He called over his shoulder and the archaeologist followed in the General's wake.

"Please, General, tell me what's going on." Janet asked of the man, clearly frustrated at not being told what she was doing by going with him.

"It's Carter."

Janet paused, clearly not expecting that. "But she's not due for another week."

"Thank you, Doctor," came the sarcastic reply as he stepped into the lift. Janet and Daniel followed, who both now pursued the officer eagerly. "She's been asking for you for a while, and to be honest, it's getting on my nerves just a little." Janet hid her smile. "Where have you been anyway?"

"As Mitchell said, it's a long story." Daniel replied as the doors closed.

--

"Wow, so much in one day. I don't know how you do it."

"You used to do it too, sir."

"Carter..."

"I'm sorry; it's a hard habit to break... Jack."

"There we go." Sam just smiled on the other end of the line.

"So what did Janet say before she left?"

Sam hesitated before telling him the specifics. "She said that umm... in her reality I'm... I'm pregnant."

There was silence on Jack O'Neill's end of the phone for a few moments.

"Wow."

"Yeah, I know."

"What do you think about that?"

Sam could tell there was a hidden meaning behind his words. "I say she's very lucky."

"Yeah... Yeah I suppose she is."

--

Janet could hear some screaming as she entered the hallway leading to the room. She noticed that Jack quickened his pace.

"Where is she?" She heard Sam scream from inside the door as she reached it.

"I'm right here, Sam."

"Oh thank god." Sam sighed with relief, and sat back on her bed. The relief was short lived however as a contraction shot through her body at that moment. She reached out for someone's hand and it was immediately taken by Jack.

"This is all your fault, you know." Sam breathed as the contraction faded and she let go of his hand.

"You say that every day." Jack muttered under his breath, massaging his hand.

"What was that?" Sam turned on him, her eyes flashing.

"Nothing," Jack replied quickly in an almost sickly sweet voice. He paused then braved to continue in a somewhat childish tone. "You're the one who wanted another one."

"That was before I remembered how painful it was." Sam shot back, grabbing for his hand as she felt another one coming on.

"You won't be saying that later." Janet input into the exchange, checking all the readings from before she had arrived.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go and... do... something." Daniel said, looking a little pale as he backed out of the room.

"Can you find Grace, please?" Sam asked of him through gritted teeth. Daniel nodded before practically running from the room.

Jack watched him go with envious eyes. He was drawn back, though, when Sam's head hit the pillow hard as the contraction finished. He quickly took his hand back while he could and massaged it further. This was going to be a long afternoon.

--

"So, I never did get to ask how _your_ day was." Sam said, lying down on her couch.

"Oh yeah, much of the same." Such a typical Jack answer, she thought to herself. "Actually, I'm thinking of retiring."

That shocked Sam enough to make her sit bolt upright where she was.

"Really?"

"Yeah, just getting bored where I am. Plus I think I'm actually getting worse at this whole diplomacy thing. Didn't think it was possible, but there you go."

He said it so casually that Sam's heart slowed down a little. She thought there may have been another reason.

"Oh ok. Well, if that's what you want to do..."

"Yeah, I think it is. Maybe I'll come back to Colorado. I always liked it there."

Sam's heart pounded just a little bit harder at his loaded words.

--

"You don't know how much I hate you right now, Jack."

"Oh, I think I have a fair idea." He said in that usually cute casual way of his, but right now it just infuriated Sam more.

"You know what, just stay quiet."

If Jack didn't know Sam wasn't herself that just proved it. But he did as he was asked and stayed quiet. He wasn't able to take back his hand anymore since the contractions were coming so frequently so he needed all his focus on his hand and not screaming out as much as Sam was right now.

--

"so you really think the other Carter is lucky?" Jack brought up again after more of the same conversation.

"I do." Sam replied, all of a sudden very quiet on the line. She didn't exactly know where he was going with this.

"Have you ever thought about having kids?" He asked, just as softly.

"Not really, I mean, Pete brought it up once but it didn't seem right at the time." Sam noticed the cold silence when she mentioned her former fiancé. "But now that I know I'm pregnant... the _other_ Sam is pregnant – I've never really thought of it before, but now it seems like a possibility."

Sam held her breath after just pouring her inner most thoughts out to her former boss and colleague. She waited for what felt like forever for him to answer.

"I'm glad you feel that way." Jack said after an anxious delay. But before Sam could say anything in reply, he jumped in again. "Wow, didn't realise we've been talking for two hours now. I got to go, meetings, paperwork and all that." Sam could practically hear him rolling his eyes at the thought.

"Of course. You're a busy man, I understand."

"Same time next week, then?"

"Definitely."

"Talk to you then." He paused before hanging up. Sam stayed on for a few moments more, perhaps reading too much into his sudden departure after such a touchy subject and his answer to her confession. Or perhaps she wasn't reading too much into it. Maybe it was how it seemed. She smiled and hung up.

--

"He's so small." Jack commented, after counting his fingers and toes for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Babies tend to be that way."

"But he's _so small_."

"Jack..."

"Sorry. But he's..."

"Don't say it." Sam demanded as her new baby son squirmed in her arms. He was wrapped in a soft blue blanket with only his bright face and tuffs of dark hair sticking out and was being intensely scrutinised by his father who was lying next to her on the bed.

At that moment, Daniel and Mitchell entered the room with a little blonde girl between them, being swung backwards and forwards with fits of giggles in between.

"Daddy!" Little Grace O'Neill-Carter squealed as she saw Jack. She ran over, her mega-watt smile beaming upon her face. She definitely had Sam's smile.

"Hey, my little terror," He said as the child launched herself into her father's arms. The girl giggled but stopped when she saw the baby.

"He's so small." She said at the first sight. Sam couldn't help but smile at how much her and Jack were alike. Daniel and Mitchell had come around the bed to see the new addition to the O'Neill-Carter family and were Oohing and Ahhing like a bunch of fairies. And Jack told them so.

"Have you thought of a name, yet?" Daniel asked, completely ignoring Jack's comment.

"We were thinking..." Sam started, looking at Jack before continuing. "Nicholas Daniel."

"Aw, I get left out?" Mitchell whined with a smile tugging at his lips. Daniel remained speechless, though not from lack of trying. His mouth opened and closed but no words seemed to form.

"What do you think, Danny boy?" Jack asked, clearly amused by his reaction.

"Wow. I umm... I don't know what to say. I would be flattered."

"That's what we thought." Jack said in a 'told-you-so' voice, earning a small hit from Sam, though made difficult from the bundle in her arms.

"Daddy," Grace nudged her dad, trying to get his attention. When she achieved it, she snuggled further into his arms as she did when he was telling her bedtime story. "Why is he so small?" She looked down at her brother in Sam's arms again. Brown eyes met blue and she was hooked in.

Sam just gave a pointed looked at Jack who shrugged, shifting the blame from his shoulders. Sam shook her head, hiding her smile, but couldn't hold it for much longer and started to laugh and soon the whole room joined. Except Grace, who wondered why no one answered her question.

The End.

--


End file.
